Blog Archives
Health Breakfast Choices?
A healthy breakfast is a very important and integral way to begin your day. Researchers have documented over and over again the importance of beginning your day with a healthy and satisfying meal. Individuals who eat a balanced breakfast have lower incidences of heart disease, better overall health, lower body-to-mass index and more stable blood sugar levels throughout the morning. Stable blood sugar levels enable you to be more productive and able to concentrate for longer periods.
Turning lazy white fat into brown fat…
Researchers from Johns Hopkins conducted an experiment to see if suppressing the appetite-stimulating neuropeptide Y (NPY) protein in the hypothalamus would decrease body fat in rats.
At the conclusion of their study, the rats with suppressed NPY weighed less than the control group.
That’s good news.
The researchers also found that the rats with suppressed levels of NPY exhibited higher levels of spontaneous physical activity, improved blood sugar levels and enhanced insulin sensitivity.
More good news.
But wait, it gets even better.
Does your income affect your health?
The results of this recent study which were published in the medical journal, Preventative Medicine, suggest that levels of high density lipoprotein (HDL/’good cholesterol) increase with income level. The authors suggest that this effect may be related to higher stress levels in lower socioeconomic groups.
Elevated levels of homocysteine are considered a powerful risk factor for cardiovascular disease. C-reactive protein is a marker of inflammation which can be used as a proxy to predict cardiovascular risk. Both higher levels of homocysteine as well as c-reactive protein were also found in lower socioeconomic groups.
In short, the higher stress levels in lower socioeconomic groups can adversely affect their risk factors for cardiovascular disease.
